Metopium toxiferum (L.) Krug & Urb.


Amyris toxifera L.

poisonwood
poison wood
Florida poisontree
Florida poison tree
hog gum



USDA METO3 


Genus and species meaning:  The gum of an African tree, probably because the trunk yields a (poisonous) black sap / bearing poison, Greek "toxikon" (poison) and "fera" (to bear)

FL


Leaf: Alternate, pinnately compound, evergreen and leathery, to 12 inches long, with 5 to 7 ovate leaflets with entire margins, shiny yellow-green to dark green above and pale green below; may become black-spotted as the leaves exude latex-based sap. TOXIC.
Flower: Small, yellowish green, appearing in clusters at the branch tips, present year-round but are more prolific in spring. TOXIC.
Fruit: An orange-brown 3/8 inch drupe borne in loose clusters; mostly ripening in the fall. TOXIC.
Twig: Stout, reddish-brown and shiny to gray; may have some rusty pubescence near the tips; leaf scars raised and narrow to shield-shaped; terminal buds conical. TOXIC.
Bark: Sycamore-like, mottled dark gray, brown, and orange; producing a latex-based black sap especially when wounded. TOXIC.
Form: A large shrub or small tree with a rounded crown to 40 feet tall. 



Site: Found in south Florida and in the Caribbean islands, mostly on hammocks and in dry piney woodlands; often over limestone.  

Tidbits: The sap from this plant causes inflammation, blisters, and a maddening itch.  The sap from gumbo limbo is thought to neutralize the itch.  The fruits are eaten by birds.  


Confuse with gumbo limbo, which has more slender leaflets and less mottled bark.  



Status code 1

1 2 0 0 2 1




alternate 
fleshy
yellow
broadleaf
NULL
pinnately
unlobed
entire
ovate
0
thick
fuzzless pubescense straight
NULL
narrow broad
1 3 5 
scaly valvate fuzzy naked short tall
unarmed
NULL
NULL
shrub small tree
arid dry mesic